Howdy! Rick Perry Calls N.H. Power Broker

Looking for another sign that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will run for president?

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Mr. Perry called up Ovide Lamontagne, a former U.S. Senate candidate and one of New Hampshire’s GOP kingmakers, Saturday for a 30-minute phone conversation on the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary, Mr. Lamontagne told Washington Wire. The news comes after reports that Mr. Perry and his associates are making calls to top Republicans in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. J. Warren Tompkins, a Republican strategist in South Carolina, told Washington Wire he was contacted this month by someone advocating for Mr. Perry.

Mr. Lamontagne said Mr. Perry sounded like he was in the “final stages” of deciding whether to enter the Republican fray. “I appreciated his thoughts on where he is,” he said. “I can’t tell from his tone of voice whether I was talking to someone who had made a decision and was doing a gut-check or trying to make a decision.”

Mr. Perry’s spokesman, Mark Miner, said in an email that a decision hasn’t been made. “The Governor continues to think about a possible run and is making calls to hear what people have to say,” Mr. Miner wrote.

Mr. Lamontagne, a conservative lawyer from Manchester, has become an powerful voice in state party politics after losing last year’s GOP Senate primary to now-U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte. He regularly hosts candidates at his home and was honored at an Americans for Prosperity dinner in late April.

He said that during the phone chat he invited Mr. Perry to his home should he run. “He didn’t say ‘yes, I’d be there,’” Mr. Lamontagne said. “He appreciated the invitation and I think he’d like to take advantage of that.”

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.